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Weld secession request drops jaws

Larimer commissioners stunned by state of 'North Colorado' proposal

By Tom Hacker Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
06/06/2013 11:35:27 PM MDT

Larimer County's commissioners dropped their collective jaws on Thursday when they heard news that their Weld County counterparts are calling for creation of a new state -- North Colorado -- covering Weld and seven other northeastern counties.

"Is this April 1?" Larimer Commission Chairman Steve Johnson asked in a phone call from Florida, where he is attending to family matters.

"I think this is the stupidest thing I've seen in a long time," Johnson said. "It's hard to believe that this isn't the dumbest thing I've heard of, certainly for this year."

Weld commissioners said this week's signing of a renewable energy bill that they believe will raise rural electric rates was the final straw that nudged them from mere talk to action, and an official call to form North Colorado.

They also said that northeastern Colorado's energy and agricultural interests were getting short shrift from a state dominated by urban Front Range politicians.

'Dead Serious'

Commissioner Sean Conway said the five members took advantage of a Colorado Counties Inc. meeting in Aspen to gain approval from commissioners of Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties for a formal statement of the proposal.

"Yes, we're serious," Conway said Thursday. "We're dead serious. We're going to go to our citizens. We're going to have hearings, we're going to have meetings, and we're going to put this to the voters."

Larimer Commissioner Lew Gaiter, reached at his office Thursday, had not yet heard of the plan.

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"What? Is this a joke?" Gaiter said. "I am wholly opposed to the idea. I have absolutely no interest in this. I'm happy with Colorado. I love the state, and have no interest in moving to another, or creating another."

Conway said he had talked to Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who represents the 4th Congressional District counties, and that he was sympathetic to the idea.

Ballot Box Solution

Gardner's office on Thursday released a statement saying northeast Colorado residents "are mad, and have every right to be."

Johnson said solutions to problems that rural Colorado residents perceive are at hand in more conventional ways.

"The best way for us to deal with those things is at the ballot box," he said. "If you don't like what's happening at the Legislature and in the governor's office, then take care of it on election day."

He also said the decision by Weld commissioners to issue an official statement could make their jobs harder in the future.

"It seems like these guys are serious about this," he said. "But It seems to me like this could really hurt the credibility of that board when it comes to dealing with more-serious issues."

Conway said Johnson's words reflect the difference that he said was at the heart of his and his colleagues' proposal.

"I respectfully disagree with his opinion," Conway said.

"I think Steve represents a more urban setting. ... This is part of a larger story, across the country. There is a disconnect between the people that produce the food and produce the energy and the urban people who rely on those things."